#EuroVolleyW 2017: Germany defeat Hungary in four sets

On the Sunday evening in Baku, Germany beat Hungary 3-1 (25-21, 19-25, 25-21, 25-18) to secure their progression to the Playoffs – with Hungary packing their bags since they have to leave the competition after suffering three losses in as many matches. 

Germany vs. Hungary 3-1 (25-21, 19-25, 25-21, 25-18) 

The last match of the day in Baku was pretty much a do-or-die bout for both Germany and Hungary, as they were still vying for their first victory in the tournament. Germany could rely on their solid teamwork – with a substantial share of their roster and staring line up having played together in Schwerin this past season – to compensate for the lack of major stars, but Hungary responded with much of a collective effort as well. The first set was a close affair, with Germany showing more consistency in a number of key rallies to secure a 25-21 win. 

As they were making their second consecutive appearance in a #EuroVolleyW Final Round before they co-host the 2019 edition together with Turkey, Poland and the Czech Republic, Hungary looked determined to put up a fight to stay ‘alive’ in the competition. They very much did that, with Bernadett Dekany and team captain Rita Bokorné Liliom helping secure an early 8-4 lead in the second set – something they were able to hold on as they eventually cruised to a 25-19 set win. 

Hungary took that momentum into set three where they initially set the tempo of the game (8-5) before Germany fought back and eventually doubled their lead in the match (25-21) as the fight for ‘survival’ in the tournament was taken to the next level of intensity. Germany’s rhythm grew with the game and the ‘Butterflies’ comfortably sailed towards their first victory in the tournament – with it sending Hungary home and securing their qualification to the Playoffs before taking on hosts Azerbaijan in their last match in the pool. 

Quotes 

Louisa Lippmann, opposite hitter of Germany and her team’s top scorer of the match with 19 points: “It was a very tough match. That second set was really unnecessary for us, but I am proud of how my team came back in the third one. We knew that Hungary would play a lot of shorts and that their outside hitter No.1 [Greta Szakmary] is very strong – we could have played a little better with our block in that part but in the end I’m just happy that we are in the next round. Azerbaijan will be a super hard game, with them playing at home and having such giant players. We are a very young team but we’ll fight with courage and we might find our luck, as it will also be very difficult in the next phase, with teams like Russia, Turkey and Bulgaria.”

Felix Koslowski, head coach of Germany: “As for the next match with Azerbaijan, we have to acknowledge that we somehow play at different levels – but we will be trying to put up a fight and to play as clever as we can. If we only try to play and hit hard, that is most likely not to work, so we have to find some other solutions in order to be competitive in that game as well.” 

Rita Bokorné Liliom, team captain of Hungary: “We are satisfied with the fact that we started each of these three games very well, but unhappy with how we couldn’t close the sets when we wanted, despite being ahead in points. I think we showed good concentration in the beginning of each set and I am proud of the team and of getting here, because this was a long summer while our list of players was short. On the other hand, we very much wanted to bring at least one win from here and our biggest chance was tonight, so we are disappointed that we could not make it happen. The tournament is great. We love the European Championship and we want to stay around for a long time.”  

Alberto Salomoni, coach of Hungary: “I think we grew with each match. We gave all we could give at this moment. Of course, our roster was small and we lacked experience; obviously, I cannot say anything bad about my team because they worked very hard this summer and we achieved a very good result by winning the World Grand Prix Group 3. We are sad that our adventure here ends today but I think we earned respect in this competition because even if we lost three matches, we showed good Volleyball, we played well organised and we fought all the way. Of course we have our limitations and we pay the price for that.” 

Match details:

http://www.cev.lu/Competition-Area/MatchStatistics.aspx?ID=29702